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Clare artists take European City of Culture by storm

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THINK about celebrating St Patrick’s Day and many images spring to mind. Perhaps standing in the freezing cold to watch a parade with your children, or even squeezing into a small pub already deploring the imminent hangover that will come the following morning in work. But one group of Clare artists will be doing things a little bit different this St Patrick’s Day, they will be launching an exhibition in Estonia’s capital city of Talinn.
Artists Jackie Askew and Maria Kerin have curated SALT, an exhibition of film, photography, painting and live performance by professional artists from North Clare. It will be launched in Talinn, which has been named European City of Culture 2011. The exhibition, which continues from March 17-20, includes work from Jackie and Maria, as well as Maeve Collins, Fergus Tighe, Fiona O’Dwyer and Fiona Woods. All of the artists have referred to the sea in their creations, connecting the exhibition to the subject of Stories from the Coastline, which Tallinn has chosen as its City of Culture theme.
Maria, who belongs to Outrider Artists a network of artist friends has been based in Tartu, Estonia since September. She explained how the exhibition first came about, “I was impressed by the attitude taken by Talinn City of Culture committee asking its people what theme they wanted represented this year as a celebration of Estonian culture. This theme of Stories from the Seashore is common to many places that have a strong pull of the sea. This is very evident where I live, on the west coast of Ireland in Clare, near the Cliffs of Moher. Artists and musicians are drawn here and are inspired by the sea.
“Recently, this sense of being on the edge and facing the sea seems to be a recurring theme for the artists that I know and work with. With this strong link with Estonia, I felt it would be interesting to acknowledge the connection and celebrate it by bringing this artwork to Estonia during the year as European City of Culture and what better time than St Patrick’s week. I find myself looking for similarities between Ireland and Estonia: the familiar, something to give a sense of connection and belonging and interest in the sea connects me,” she explained.
She said Outrider Artists’ aim is to make connections outside Ireland and show their work abroad. “In mid-January, I mentioned the sea link to Jackie Askew, a member who also curates exhibitions, and we decided to co-curate this multimedia exhibition. I had been to East Gallery on Pikk Street for a gig and liked the unpretentious easy manner of the place and when Elijah the manager said it was free in mid-March, we started organising the exhibition with the help of Paul Emmett and Michael Walsh, our friends in Estonia. I approached the Irish Ambassador to Estonia, Peter McIvor and he was very kind, agreeing to open the exhibition and Jackie contacted our arts officer in County Clare Siobhán Mulcahy, who is tremendously supportive and helpful to the Outrider Artists and will help us cover the main costs of this event.”
Maria explained that choosing the artists for this exhibition was easy. “The theme resonated with so many artists living on the west coast of Clare. Curating for this exhibition was very easy because all the artworks have been already made and are part of each artist’s individual creative practice. Over the years, I have curated many exhibitions with artworks from Jackie Askew, Maeve Collins, Fiona O’Dwyer and Fiona Woods. I have also worked as mentor and been mentored by this group. There is a great sharing and support in the network of Outrider Artists and respect for each other’s practice. Much of this work has been shown before in solo and group exhibitions in Ireland but not together and this is a unique selection as transport was a big issue in our curatorial selection. We are working to a shoestring budget and with little time to organise this project so the challenge was to pick from the works available: images and videos and sound pieces and films that would fit in a Ryanair case. Yes, its true, we hope to bring all the work in two standard suitcases,” she told us.
Jackie’s work creates art that engages with her immediate environment of the beach and with the objects she finds washed up on the seashore. “She explores the strength and fragility of these objects engaging with the materiality of what has been displaced and given by the sea,” explained Maria. For this exhibition she has a selection of oil-on-canvas paintings from the series Wrack Line.
A multi disciplinary artist, Maeve Collins’ work for this exhibition grew out of practice based at the edge of the Atlantic, where the artist had a residency on Inis Oírr in 2007 and continued on the west coast of Ireland to date.
“We have chosen her audio installation The Quiet Voice, recordings from the Comhra na nAosach Group, Inis Oírr, Aran Islands, 2009. The Quiet Voice speaks directly in Irish of stories, sites and truths from a life being lived on Inis Oírr influenced by the sea. Also exhibited are her photoworks from her project Contemporary Hybrasil: Chair I and Chair II are of a performance created in 2010. For the opening, Maeve will sing Full Tide, a song written by Francis A Fahy from Clare,” Maria said.
Fiona O’Dwyer had a very successful multimedia exhibition entitled Strange the Rooms we’ve all lived in,  a project commissioned by Clare County Council and  took two years of work shown in the Courthouse Gallery in 2010. For SALT, she will present images and stills from this series that depict the performer riding an old bicycle both in a circle and in a straight line along a beach, while her conflicting reflection is visible in the sand. Working in film, sculpture, print and drawing, O’Dwyer deals with memory and transience, creating haunting, edgy images and installations.
Images of Folly (Stage 1), a sculptural and event based work by Fiona Woods has also been selected for the exhibition. The work saw the construction of a monumental form from scrap materials, anchored on the beach during a particularly high tide. “Woods’ practice includes curating and writing and is largely oriented towards the public realm. She incorporates actions, objects, publications, discussions and performative photography into explorations of matters that interest her,” explained Maria.
Seaside Stories… by filmmaker Fergus Tighe also forms part of the exhibition. Fergus’ film company Gallivanting Media is based in Ennistymon and he has won awards for his film Clash of the Ash. He has since worked in documentary around the world, most notably 3 Brothers and John of God, Spirit Doctor of Brazil. Seaside Stories… is his first feature film and was created using local acting workshops and local amateur actors with professional actors. Set in a west of Ireland seaside resort Seaside Stories… is a moving drama that tells the story of 11-year-old Locky as the lives of the adults around him unravel in a haze of alcohol and cocaine.
At the launch of the exhibition, Maria will create a durational performance with Estonian dancer Kaja Lindel, including dance and photography with audience participation. “My own work in dance and art with new media has developed with the support of daily movement practice to explore meeting points of presence and site with artists Maeve Collins and Alexandera Boettcher over the past few years. Being born and raised on the west coast of Clare, the rural landscape and seascape has always influenced me. I’m very drawn to the edge, the cliffs, this magical place with the open horizon that stretches out. For this exhibition, I am developing a solo piece entitled Salt: Stories of looking back, that will take place quietly and probably hardly noticed during the opening reception. I will be using salt, dance, drawing and taking poloroids in a series of stories, sketching through movement and meeting audience. What is created will be left on the gallery wall for the duration of the exhibition,” she said.
“For this exhibition, we will also distribute a photomontage of Second Horizon, designed by Michael Walsh, Emajoe Disain, Tartu. It is a collection of still moments in a performance by Maeve Collins, Alexandra Boettcher and Maria Kerin that took place last July in the Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon, a fantastic local run gallery with a very supportive curator Trudi van der Elsen.”
The exhibition in Talinn is funded by the Clare Arts Office. For more information see salt-exhibition-Tallinn.blogspot.com.

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